Abstract
Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites, formed by the action of fungi on agricultural crops in the field or during storage. These metabolites are highly toxic to animals and humans and high levels have been measured in agricultural crops. In order to evaluate human risks due to ingestion of mycotoxin-contaminated food different methods have been developed for analysis of mycotoxins in cereals and maize. In this project the focus was on mycotoxins in agricultural soil and the fate of these toxins in the soil–water-plant system. Two different mycotoxins were selected in the study: zearalenone (ZON) produced by species of Fusarium or Aspergillus and ochratoxin A (OTA) produced by species of Penicillium. We developed a method for analysis of these toxins in soil. Soil samples were extracted with methanol–water (9:1) and purified by solid-phase extraction (SPE, C8-columns). The final extract was analysed using high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) with fluorescence detection. A Phenyl Hexyl column was used to separate the toxins. The detection limits obtained were 0.1 and 1.0 μg kg−1 dry weight (dw) for OTA and ZON, respectively. The developed method has been used for analysis of different soils in connection with growth chamber experiments. The soil types used in the growth chamber experiments were a sandy soil, a sandy clay soil, and a soil with high content of organic matter. The recovery was determined as 85.8 and 93.4% and the repeatability to 5.1 and 12.8% for OTA and ZON, respectively. The reproducibility obtained was 8.5 and 15.0% for soil samples, representing concentration levels from 0.2–30 μg kg−1 dw (OTA) and from 1.0–100 μg kg−1 dw (ZON).
Similar content being viewed by others
References
diMenna ME, Lauren DR, Hardacre A (1997) Mycopathologia 139:165–173
Desjardins AE, Hohn TM (1997) MPMI 10:147–152
Placinta CM, D'Mello JPE, Macdonald AMC (1999) Anim Food Sci Technol 78:2137
Pohland AE, Nesheim S, Friedman L (1992) Pure Appl Chem 64:1029–1046
Elmholt S, Hestbjerg H (2000) Mycopathologia 147:6781
Jørgensen K, Rasmussen G, Thorup I (1996) Food Addit Contam 13:95104
Eriksen GS, Alexander J (1998) Nordic Council of Ministers, TemaNord no 502
Ehrlich V, Darroudi F, Uhl M, Steinkellner H, Gann M, Majer BJ, Eisenbauer M, Knasmüller S (2002) Food Chem Toxicol 40:1085–1090
Benford D (2001) JECFA 47, 149 pp
Withanage GSK, Murata H, Koyama T, Ishiwata I (2001) Vet Human Toxicol 43:6–10
Kuiper-Goodman T, Scott PM, Watanabe H (1987) Regul Toxicol Pharmacol 7:253–306
Jacobsen JS, Jørgensen K (1999) The Danish Veterinary and Food Control Programme 1993–1998
Megharaj M, Garthwaite I, Thiele JH (1997) Lett Appl Microbiol 24:329–333
Krska R, Joseph R (2001) Fresenius J Anal Chem 369:469–476
Tanaka T, Hasegawa A, Matsuki Y (1985) J Chromatogr 328:271–278
Schwadorf K, Müller HM (1992) J Chromatogr 595:259–267
Seidel V, Poglits E, Schiller K, Lindner W (1993) J Chromatogr 635:227–235
Wilkes JG, Sutherland JB (1998) J Chromatogr B 717:135–156
Reinhard H, Zimmerly B (1999) J Chromatogr 862:147–159
Scott PM, Trucksess MW (1997) JAOAC Int 80:941–949
Scudamore KA, MacDonald SJ (1998) Food Addit Contam 15:401–410
Acknowledgements
This work was part of a research project focusing on natural toxins in soil and agricultural crops. This project was supported by funding from the Danish Agricultural and Veterinary Research.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mortensen, G.K., Strobel, B.W. & Hansen, H.C.B. Determination of zearalenone and ochratoxin A in soil. Anal Bioanal Chem 376, 98–101 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-003-1863-8
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-003-1863-8